Regenerative gas-furnace.



No. 762,578. PATENTBD JUNE 14, 1904.

, E .DERVAL: REGENERATIVB GAS FURNAGE.

APPLICATION rmm OUT. 20. 1902. no MODEL.

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PATENTED JUNE 14.1904,

E. DERVAL. REGEITERATIVB GAS FURNACE APPLICATION FILED 0 OT. 20,1902. N0MODEL.

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Patented June 14:, 1904.

PATENT @FFICE.

EUGENE DERVAL, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

REGENERATIVE GAS-FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 762,578, dated June 14,1904.

Application filed October 20, 1902.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE DERVAL, a citizen of the Republic of France,and a resident of Paris, France, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Regenerative Gas-Furnaces, of which the following is aspecification.

' My invention relates to regenerative gasfurnaces having inclinedretorts.

One of the chief objections to the use of inclined retorts for themanufacture of illuminating gas is the impossibility of giving to theretorts such an inclination as will allow of the retorts being chargedto a uniform thickness and at the same time allow of the automaticdischarge of the coke.

With good charging apparatus the charging of the retorts is generallyeffected tolcrably well with the inclinations varying from twenty-ninedegrees to thirty-four degrees, according to the nature of the coal andits degree of humidity; but if it is desired to increase the angle ofinclination in order to facilitate the discharge of the coke the coalaccumulates against the stopping-plate placed at the lower end of theretort and sometimes passes over the said plate into the cast-ironmouthpiece. With inclinations to the horizontal exceeding thirty-fourdegrees the distillation is often incomplete at the lower end of theretort, partly in consequence of the greater thickness of the layer ofcoal at that point than at other parts of the retort, partly inconsequence of the cooling produced by the gas escaping from the retort,and partly in consequence of the comparatively low temperature of theretort at the place where the stopper-plate is situated and by reason ofother circumstances. This incomplete distillation of the coal at thelower end of the retorts renders the work of the stokers very severe,for they are obliged to withdraw with a hook the burning coal, whichprevents the coke from sliding down. Further, the coke when withdrawn isfouled by its mixture with the incompletely-distilled coal and with theliquid tar, which always accumulates more or less at the bottom of themouthpieces. It is also seldom that the coke will slide of itself out ofthe retort, it being generally necessary to put Serial No. 127,980. (Nomodel.)

the mass of coke in motion by pushing it down from above. and theworkman who does this is exposed to the flames and sparks that issuefrom the upper openings of the retort.

As the most suitable inclination to be given to the retorts varies withthe nature of the coal, there arise great difficulties in the chargingand discharging of the retorts when different kinds of coal are used. Myinvention enables these inconveniences to be obviated.

' It consists, primarily, in diminishing the inclination of the end of.the retort at which the coke is discharged and in increasing theinclination at the end at which the coal is introduced so that thegeneral mass of the coke puts itself in motion immediately the coke atthe lower end of the retort has been withdrawn by a hook.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View of afurnace equipped with retorts constructed in accordance with myinvention, the sectional plane cutting through a tier of retortslongitudinally. Fig. 2 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of

one of the retorts removed from the furnace.

'and 5 are views in front elevation of the lower ends of the two lowersections of the retort at the points Z) and a, respectively. Fig. 6 is avertical longitudinal sectional View of a retort of a slightly-modifiedform, all of the sections being inclined at slightly-different angles;and Fig. 7 is a similar yiew of a retort of further modified form, thesections being slightly curved.

It will be readily understood that in consequence of the slightinclination of the lower part a I) of the retort the thickness of thelayer of coal will diminish toward the stopper-plate T, which willenable the distillation of the coal at the lower end of the retort to bemore completely effected.

As regards the distillation of the coal at the point 6, where the layerof coal is thickest, it may be made as complete there as at other partsby increasing the temperature of the furnace at that point. This may bedone by arranging the furnace as shown in Fig. 1, in which the arrowsshow that the gas issuing from the gas-producer G is partly burned by afirst admission of hot air at the lowest part of the retorts, so that itis easy to obtain at that point as high a temperature as may be desired.The furnace gases are afterward brought under the retorts by a wall M,reaching to the arch of the furnace or retort-bench, and are reheatedtoward the middle of their course at the point F by a second admissionof hot air, which completes the combustion of the furnace-gases beforethey reach the generator R. These two admissions of hot air areregulated once for all by the registers for the admission of cold air tothe generator R. The arrangement of the furnace so as to effect thisdouble combustion of the furnace-gases may be varied in many ways toeffect the same result.

The inclinations of twenty-eight degrees and thirty-six degreesindicated in the drawings for the upper and lower parts of the retorts,respectively, are those that I have found to be most suitable; but theymay obviously be varied within certain limits according to the nature ofthe coal employed and the mode of charging the retort. In principle theinclination of the parts a 6 should be such as will not prevent thesliding down of the coke contained in the more inclined part of theretort when once such coke has been set in motion, but should be slightenough to form a sort of brake which will prevent a too rapid descent ofthe coke, which might be inconvenient, especially when a hot-cokeconveyer and quencher are employed for the removal of the hot coke.

It will be readily understood that the double inclination of the retortswill not prevent the employment of certain other Well-knownimprovement-s already made in connection with inclined retorts in viewof facilitating the sliding out of the cokesuch as the fan shape and thelateral inclination of the sides of the retorts, for example.

Figs. 3, 4, and 5 of the drawings show the cross-sectional form of theretort at the points (Z, 5, and a and the form given to the threelengths of which it is composed. The second length d 0 may have aninclination intermediate between that of the lengths a 5, respectively,as shown in Fig. 6, and instead of making the lengths straight any ofthem may be in a curved shape,as shown in Fig. 7, so that when thelengths are put together the retort or part thereof Will have a curvedor partly-curved shape approximating, more or less, the polygonal shapeproduced by the connection together of several straight lengths set atvarious inclinations. Any one or two of the sections may be curved, withthe other section or sections straight, if desired.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In a gas-furnace, an inclined retort composed of sections, each ofwhich is at an angle to the horizontal less than the next adjoiningsection above, substantially as described.

2. In a gas-furnace, an inclined retort composed of sections, one ofwhich is curved, substantially as described.

3. In a gas-furnace, an inclined retort composed of curved sectionsarranged to cause the inclination of the lower section to the horizontalto be less than that of the adjacent section above, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

EDWARD P. MACLEAN, J. ALLIsoN BOWEN.

